Editorial: Battler defies death - again

Jackson Alexander of Hastings was rescued from Mt Ruapehu at the weekend. Photo/Warren Buckland

"This is the sort of thing movies are made from."

Simon Alexander's comments yesterday were spot on.

He was referring to his son, cancer sufferer Jackson Alexander, who survived a freezing 12 hours lost and alone after snowboarding on Mt Ruapehu at the weekend.

His son told himself, "I won't die on this mountain. I had no phone or light so I needed to find a shelter for the night as it was snowing and windy."

The rescue team, made up of Turoa and Whakapapa Ski Patrol and members from Hillary Outdoors, had tracked him from where he had slid down by the river, finding his keys and snowboard before following footprints and eventually finding him.

Waiting at home for any news, his father was thinking, "This was not how Jackson is supposed to die. He cheated death. He was unlucky at the start but very lucky in the end."

Yesterday's story is heartening for so many reasons. Not least of which because we featured the young apprentice builder's courageous plight just last month.

But also because it was such a gracious response from a father whose son has been dealt such a cruel hand so early in life.

He was diagnosed with stage three melanoma skin cancer on Daffodil Day 2014, while still at secondary school.

It got so bad that he eventually went to hospice, but later pulled through.

There's no doubt his long battle fighting the disease steeled the 21-year-old's resolve; rather than succumb to the unforgiving mountain, he decided to fight.

Here's a family predisposed to positivity, despite some serious tribulations.